Suspect Was Quiet, Not Often Seen, Her Neighbors Say

The white cinder-block apartment, tucked behind an empty storefront and under a dance academy in Emmaus, is easy to miss. And for neighbors, so was Lori Scheirer.

Yesterday, the stocky 27-year-old woman was charged with the murder of Jean Sufrich, whose body was found in an empty lot in Bethlehem Township last October.

A light drizzle fell, and music blared from the Dolly Haltzman Dance Academy, but there was no activity coming from 120 S. 6th St. Shades were drawn shut. A pair of yellow rubber gloves lay on the ground between the storm door and front door.

Little is known about Scheirer. A mother with a 5-year-old daughter, she lived in her Emmaus home for at least five years.

"We didn't see her much," said a neighbor who asked not to be identified. "This is a very quiet neighborhood."

Only a block away from the Emmaus Fire Company, very few cars traveled the street and a few of the homes remained dark.

A few hours earlier, Scheirer was arrested at her home.

There was a commotion there, said Mrs. Ray Hillegass of 128 S. 6th St.

Brian Hill of Alburtis said he saw an unmarked police car and two cruisers parked on the street with several men sitting in them. Hill was working at his mother Nancy's home at 119 S. 6th St.

He said he saw police go inside Scheirer's home and stay for about an hour and a half. Later in the afternoon her car, a light gray Dodge Charger, was towed away, he said.

"I've seen her a couple of times, just going in and out of the apartment, and doing her laundry," he said.

Nearby streetlights began to flicker, illuminating the work of a few men at a small building. The road was still empty, and the neighborhood had become quiet again.